Once Upon A Wartime
by wildchild17
Summary: Or 'Chance'. World War II has torn childhood friends apart, but could it bring them together again? And has friendship turned into something more? Oneshot but could be expanded :D NOW A TWOSHOT :D
1. Part 1

**A/N: My first S&A fic so please be nice! I'm not entirely sure if naval vessels during WWII had medical centres on them, but even if they didn't, this is FANFICTON – just pretend, guys, pretend!**

**If you like it or could suggest any improvements, please leave a review :D**

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"Nurse!" came the yell from the doorway. A young woman hurried over, dodging a stretcher being carried past and several groaning patients with surprising skill.

"Sir?"

"Attend to Commander Walker at once. He is in need of immediate attention and must return to the bridge as soon as possible."

"Of course." Her thoughts briefly turned to another man named Walker, from a different time, a different world, but she forced herself to concentrate as she slung the Commander's arm round her neck and led him over to a free bed.

He lay down for a moment, his face pale, and then opened his eyes and sat up. "It's my arm," he told her as she expertly cut the sleeve off to get to the wound. "Stupid really… should never have tried to go onto the deck…"

She gently cleaned the small but deep cut and began to stitch it. "This will hurt a bit," she muttered.

He winced and then let out an enormous yawn. "Sorry," he grinned weakly, trying to ignore the pain. "Been on the bridge too long. I'm still not really used to this kind of ship, even after all these years… I'd go under sail every time."

The young nurse stopped and looked at him. "You sail?"

He nodded. "I sailed all the time when I was younger, before the war. A little dinghy named Swallow… there were others, but she was always my favourite."

She chuckled and continued to stitch his arm. "How strange. I used to know a family who sailed a boat called Swallow," she smiled reminiscently. "My sister and I sailed the Amazon. There. You're done." She cut the end of the thread and began to tidy away the equipment.

He stared at her for a moment, then looked down at his arm, surprised. "Oh. Thanks. What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't, but it's Ruth."

His eyes widened. "_Nancy?_"

She looked up, startled to hear a name no one had called her for many years. "How did you—"

"Don't you recognize me? It's me, John, John Walker!" he said excitedly.

Nancy stared at him, unable to believe her eyes. "John?" she whispered. "Is it really you?"

"Of course it is! I never – I can't believe—"

She rushed forwards and hugged him tightly, and then stepped back, blushing in a very un-Nancy-like manner. "Sorry, it's just, I thought – after the war started, and you never came back… I thought I'd never see you again," she looked at the floor, embarrassed.

"We all signed up, and I don't think Mother wanted to come on her own," he told her. Suddenly he reached up and brushed her head with his fingertips. "You cut your hair!"

Nancy grinned suddenly, and John saw a glimpse of the fearsome Amazon pirate he used to know. "It was getting in the way." He laughed; inside she was still the same girl he had known all those years ago – forever practical. If something like hair got in the way, well, it had to go. "How are the others?"

"Susan and Bridget are nurses, like you. Last I heard they were still in London, but I think Titty is head medic on one of the warships." He returned her smile; still almost unable to believe they had met again.

"And Roger?"

His smiled faded and he looked away. Nancy sat down beside him and took his hand. "John… I – I'm so sorry."

He was silent for a moment, and then, hesitantly, he pulled her into an embrace, burying his face in her shoulder. She held him for a moment or two, and pulled back, uncertain just when their relationship had changed from childhood friends to something more.

"I'm sorry, John," she whispered, looking up at him. "I have to go…"

John nodded, wondering why his heart beat fast whenever she said his name. "I should get back to the bridge."

Nancy got up and walked away, but she stopped and looked back at him with a hint of a smile curving her lips. "I'll be back, Captain John," she told him. "This won't be the last time we'll see each other, don't you worry."

And John Walker laughed, knowing that Nancy, Terror of the Seas and Captain of the Amazon, was back, and nothing, not even a war, would stop her getting her way.

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**A/N: So... you like?**


	2. Part 2

**A/N: So here is a second part, dedicated to TheThingThatHasNoName! I may also write another story slightly related to this one, but I'm not sure yet :D**

**I am now aware that WWII warships did not have a medical centre on them, but for the sake of this story, they did. Sorry I'm not completely historically accurate, but it just fits better with the story this way :)**

**Enjoy!**

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_Summer, 1946_

The sun was high in the sky and it was deliciously warm, with just enough of a breeze fluttering to cool you down. The lake shone a strong, clear sapphire blue – a perfect reflection of the cloudless sky – and the green fields and mountains almost seemed to shine with beauty. The world was peaceful and happy, unlike how it had been only a year ago.

But the two people sitting on top of the mountain they had once called Kanchenjunga were not thinking about what had been happening a year ago. Although they had spent a lot of time together since they had met by chance on a warship in 1942, John and Nancy were alone, properly alone, for the first time in many years.

Nancy sighed happily, turning her face upwards into the sun. John sat a little way away, watching her while wondering how she managed to make him feel strange and awkward around her when he had never felt like this about anyone else. Ever. But this was just Nancy, he reminded himself sharply, Nancy, his best friend.

"Do you remember the first time we came up here together?" he asked her, to distract himself.

Her green eyes sparkled as she smiled at him and he felt his heart leap. "Of course! It seemed such a huge expedition. And the Great Aunt!" She groaned exaggeratedly, holding her head in her hands in mock distress. "She was a nightmare!"

"You were so glad to have escaped." John stared out over the lake, smiling reminiscently. Nancy looked at him and smiled to herself, glad that nothing too huge and different had happened to their friendship just yet. In time, she had a feeling it would, but just now she was a little nervous about being confronted with a relationship.

Suddenly she leapt to her feet and began rummaging through the stones of the cairn. John looked round.

"Nance? What are you doing?"

She said nothing, but moments later let out a triumphant cry and waved a small wooden box in the air. She hurried over and sat down beside him.

"Look, it's the box, where we wrote down the day we came up here! Still here, after all these years!"

John took it and opened it gently, now as excited as she was. Unfolding the pieces of paper inside, they looked down at the writing from so long ago. Both were quiet, not knowing what to say.

Eventually, Nancy rested her head on his should and sighed. "It… It seems so long ago," she whispered. "Another life…"

He put his arm round her shoulders gently, all uncertainties now gone with the wind. "Another world," he agreed. "So much has changed… for all of us."

Nancy knew he was thinking about Roger, killed in the first year of the war, and all the others who had given their lives for the country. "John, the war's over now. You can't keep thinking about it – he wouldn't want that," she told him gently. She half-smiled. "Imagine what he'd be saying if he was here right now. He'd be telling us to stop being so wet." Her voice changed as she traced the name Bob Blackett on the old paper with her fingertips.

John pushed away his sadness and squeezed her shoulders gently, feeling bad that he had forgotten that she, too, had lost someone. "Your father would be so proud of you if he could see you now, you know."

She tried to smile and failed. John could see the wetness in her eyes. "I miss him so much," she breathed, burying her face in his chest. After a second or two of panic – _Oh no Nancy's crying on me what do I do – _he forced away his uncertainty and held her gently, stroking her still-short hair and quietly comforting her.

Eventually, she pulled back and stood up, walking a little way away to the edge of the slope, where it fell away steeply into a rocky crag. It felt better to have let the emotions she had bottled up for so long go. After a second or two, John came to stand beside her, looking out at the view. He found her hand and smiled at her.

"It'll be alright, one day," he said, and she nodded, glad that he was there.

And then everything happened in a split second. The ground beneath Nancy's feet gave way and suddenly she was falling. Now that the emotional bit was over, she was too proud to scream, and instead yelled, "JOHN!"

He was there, eyes wide, face tense, lying down and holding firmly onto her wrist so tight it almost hurt. "Find a foothold," he growled. Nancy could see the strain it was costing him to hold her and started to shake her head, but he interrupted sharply. "I won't let you go! Find a foothold!"

So she did, scrabbling around and glancing down at what seemed like hundreds of metres of unforgiving rock face until she had both feet in good places. She worked her free hand into a crack in the rock and breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly, she worked her way back up the crag, all the time tightly holding onto John.

When she neared the top, he pulled her up and hugged her so tightly she could hardly breath. Her heart was hammering in her chest as he pulled her away from the edge.

"Don't ever do that again," he whispered, eyes fearful.

"I can't—"

He stopped her words by pressing his mouth to hers. The kiss lasted only a second or two before John pulled back, blushing furiously.

"I'm sorry, I just – I thought, for a moment, that I might – that you might…" he trailed away, staring at the floor and wishing it would swallow him up.

Nancy smiled hesitantly at him, knowing exactly what he had thought, and coming to the conclusion that now, the adrenaline making her body tingle was not from the fall. "It's okay," she whispered softly. "In fact, it's better than okay…" She stepped forwards and kissed him again, no longer afraid of these new feelings because she knew that whatever happened, they would get through it together.

As John had said, everything would be alright. One day.

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**A/N: I hope this was okay, not too soppy! I tried to be as realistic as possible cos I think John and Nancy would have both been pretty awkward about having a relationship at first, but I also think that they would get to grips with it soon enough, and they would have got through all the ups and downs together.**

**Review?**


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